WaPo: 'silver spoon' tax would stop South Dakota banks from making national policy

According to accountant and former State Senator Susan Wismer there is about $900 billion in 105 South Dakota dynasty trusts alone. It's obvious this phenomenon is no accident: it has been manufactured to make the state a corporatist tax haven for an exclusive set of Republicans while over $3 trillion languishes in South Dakota banks.

We all suffer high and hidden costs from this parallel legal system — paying more in taxes and getting less in government services. And by hyper-concentrating wealth, South Dakota locks away resources that could spark entrepreneurial innovation. Effectively, South Dakota is setting national policy. Ditch the existing estate tax and replace it with an inheritance tax on those who receive the wealth. Answer the GOP’s bogus “death tax” claims with a “silver spoon tax” — such as that proposed by Lily Batchelder, Biden’s nominee to oversee federal tax policy — that reins in windfalls to kids of super-wealthy family dynasties.

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